Jim Hague hadn’t finished a Historic Trans-Am race at Watkins Glen International in four attempts since 1995.

On Sunday, the driver from Gilroy, Calif., drove an ex-Peter Gregg Ford Mustang Boss 302 to a victory during the U.S. Vintage Grand Prix presented by Jaguar.

“I’m glad to be back here and finally finish an event and luckily win it,” said Hague, whose car broke in Friday practice in 2013 when the Historic Trans-Am last competed at Watkins Glen. “It was a lot of fun and I love coming to this spectacular track.”

The eight-lap race, on the Watkins Glen 3.4-mile layout, was one of the highlight events of the 32nd running of the Sporstscar Vintage Racing Association-sanctioned event. Jeffrey Bernatovich of Brewerton, won the featured all-Chevrolet Corvette Governor’s Cup race. Davy Jones, the 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans winner and Indy 500 racer, served as the honorary starter.

“It’s a very special day at Watkins Glen,” said Bernatovich, who works with some emergency responders in his security business. “Not only did I win the race but it is 9/11 and it’s kind of a nice commemorative day for me in regard to honoring our special services people. I just think that sometimes they don’t get the honor that they should.”

The WGI season's concluding spectator event marked its return to its traditional September date after running in July of 2015 to accommodate the nearly $12 million repaving of the track. More than 400 vintage and historic cars took part in 11 group races in all on the final day.

More than 30 Trans-Am cars were on hand to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the series, which ran from 1966-1972. Of the more than 200 Trans-Am cars that were built, about 50 are running today, most of them in California.

Hague averaged 91.425 miles per hour in the Bud Moore-run Mustang that Gregg used in a second-place finish among his five races during the 1971 Trans-Am season. Hague had a few-car-length margin over second place finisher Ken Epsman, of Saratoga, Calif. Epsman's AMC Javelin was once driven by Mark Donohue in 1970, and also won the 1972 Trans-Am race at Watkins Glen in the hands of George Follmer.

“We all grew up with these cars and we all love them,” said Epsman, who owns the top two finishers and the 1966 Mustang current FOX Sports NASCAR announcer Mike Joy drove to a 19th place finish. “We rang them out today but we do it cleanly and safely. The cars have become collectors and they are more valuable in one piece than two.”

Hague and Epsman swapped the lead at least four times in the race, with Hague overtaking on the final lap for the win.

“He was nice enough to let me get a little run on him,” Hague said. “We had fun doing that.”

The race also honored the memory of former independent racer Warren Agor, who died in 2014 at 72. Each car carried a decal with Agor’s car No. 13 on it.

“It was a wonderful series and we had wonderful drivers then, and the custodians of these cars who race them hard now are the fellows that want to salute the memory of Penfield New York’s Warren Agor,” Joy said in a public address announcement.

Prior to the race, Rick Jeffrey, of Diablo, Calif. was presented with the first Agor Spirit Award, given to someone who embodies the spirit of the Historic Trans-Am series.

Bernatovich, an instructor for Track Masters out of Horseheads, averaged 102.775 mph in his 1996 GT-1 Corvette. He won by more than five seconds in the 13-car Governor’s Cup race.

“This is quite an honor but it was a little bit unfair with my car to the other competitors, but you have to take a win where you can,” Bernatovich said. “It’s an ex-Trans-Am car, so it is a little bit more advanced chassis-wise than some of the other cars that were out there.”

The Group 10/11 race, for full-bodied sports racers, featured two 2007 Pescarolo LMP1 Le Mans team prototypes. The last time they would have run together was eight years ago in the European Le Mans Series.

Randy Johnson, of Dallas, Texas, in the No. 16 Pescarolo 01 he purchased five weeks ago, earned the victory in the car's Glen debut. He averaged 120.406 mph in the nine-lap race. The modern-era car finished third overall in the 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans and had non-finishes in the 2008 and 2011 endurance classic.

David Porter, who ran away with the race last year in his similar Judd V10-powered Pescarolo, finished second. His car finished fourth overall at Le Mans in 2007.

“David has a lot of experience with his car and he wanted to have someone to race with,” Johnson said. “It was a great race today … We were just nose to tail really for the first four laps.”